Neville, United's right-back for more than a decade, retired last week after making 602 appearances for the club and winning 85 England caps.

Rafael has established himself ahead of John O'Shea and Wes Brown as United's first-choice right-back, and Neville said the 20-year-old Brazilian can make the position his own for years.

"He's more than capable of going on to become United's right-back for many, many years," he told the club's official website. "His performances in the last six months in particular have been brilliant.

"He's matured and really come of age. I remember when I was young defender you need that time to mature and get experience.

"Rafael's always had ability. He gets to the ball quickly, he's aggressive, he defends his position well, he's tough, courageous, good on the ball and provides energy in attack.

"But he's really developed in the last six months with games and experience. He has a great attitude too."

Neville said Rafael's emergence as a regular starter for Sir Alex Ferguson had given United a long overdue settled back-four, something the newly-retired 35-year-old believes is crucial to any team's chances of success.

"We haven't had a consistent right-back in the last couple of years," he adds. "I've been around and Wes and Sheasy [O'Shea] have played some games as well as Rafael, but in the last four or five months we've had a consistent performer in that position.

"Now you can say we've got a first-choice back four for the first time in a few years with Rafael, Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra, who are all quality players. That's important to a team."